Summary:
The Pala district in northwestern San Diego County, California, has been a widely known source of gem and lithium minerals. Formal mining operations began in the 1870's, but the most active period was from 1900 to 1922. Several underground gemstone mining operations on Tourmaline Queen Mountain and Chief Mountain persist to this day.

The Pala district has been the subject of many science-and industry-based reports, focusing on gemology, mineralogy, petrology, physics and other facets relating to the 400 or so Rare Earth Element (REE) pegmatite dikes (outcrops, veins, ledges, bodies, deposits, lodes etc.).

The area is also often referred to as the Pala Gem Mining District, or the Pala Pegmatite District. It is a common misnomer that the term "district" is an official designation. The Pala area was never established as an organized mining district, and as such all mining claim documents pertaining to the statutes of the United States and California were filed with the Office of the County Clerk.

The Pala Band of Mission Indians, whose reservation was established for the benefit of the Cupeño and Luiseño Indians in 1891, had encompassed most of the mineral lands often referred to as the Pala District or Pala Mining District by 1903. By the year 2000, several subsequent Acts of Congress had appropriated all of the remaining public lands once open to mineral entry under the general mining laws for the benefit of the Mission Indians, excepting the federal mineral patents issued between 1913 and 1979 from the transfer.

Because of the significance of the Pala district's impact on San Diego's history and economy, the County's regional land use plan recognizes the importance of the gem mines in Pala, and generally encourages the immediate development of the eight federal mineral patents.

Description: Found by microscope examination of a large piece of purple phosphosiderite purchased from Gems of Pala in Jan 2018, also associated with yellow stewartite. Analyzed by Bob Housley and myself at Caltech Raman spectroscopy lab.

Description: USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) entry number 10286426, erroneously lists an occurence of kyanite for this locality, but the reference cited (Weber 1963, p. 172) describes the species adalusite.

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to
visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders
for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.